Wedding Food Trends

Local caterers and event planners weigh in what’s cooking.

TINYWATER PHOTOGRAPHY

When Heather and Matt Fischer of Roseville got married recently at Wilson Vineyards, their caterer served passed hors d’oeuvres, followed by a buffet dinner. Later, one of the guests gushed about the wild-mushroom puffs passed around during cocktails. “Wow,” said Heather. “I never got to try that.”

It’s your wedding, but chances are you’ll be too busy to pay much attention to the food at your reception. If you’re lucky, you’ll grab a canapé here, a bite of stuffed chicken breast there. (Knowing this, many caterers package up a sampler of the wedding food so the bridal couple can enjoy it later in the comfort of their honeymoon suite.)
OK, so you probably won’t eat much at your own wedding. You still want your guests to gush. So we asked the experts—local caterers and wedding planners—to share their insights on popular trends in wedding catering. What’s in and what’s out? Here’s their report.

Comfort Food

The biggest trend in wedding food these days? Comfort food.
Today’s brides and grooms are hewing to traditional foods that are familiar and, yes, comforting. “I’m not seeing a lot of froufrou food,” says Diana Burke, owner of Simple Pleasures Restaurant & Catering in Lincoln. “Couples want foods that are simple and yummy.”

That means stick-to-your-ribs fare such as macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and barbecue. Braised dishes, once considered too homey for a wedding, are newly popular. Magpie Caterers of Sacramento, for instance, offers braised pork with pears and prunes, as well as beef short ribs with a red-wine glaze. “We’re doing a lot of saucy dishes,” says Magpie co-owner Janel Inouye.
Gretchen Wacholder, catering sales manager with Il Fornaio in Sacramento, says brides and grooms are especially keen for comfort foods that remind them of their childhood: Cream of tomato soup shooters served with mini grilled cheese sandwiches. Baby BLTs. Hamburger sliders. Bite-sized sloppy Joes.

Still, kid food can be sophisticated. Caterers have tricks to give comfort foods an upscale twist. Burke, for instance, makes “gourmet” mac ’n’ cheese flavored with truffle oil and topped with a crispy panko breadcrumb crust. Other caterers serve the lowly mashed potato in a martini glass with a dizzying array of elegant toppings: fried pancetta, sautéed mushrooms, Gruyère and cheddar crumbles.

Some comfort foods, such as fried chicken and meatloaf, haven’t yet arrived on the local wedding food scene. But Burke, for one, thinks that will happen. “I’m waiting for the day when brides are brave enough to serve fried chicken,” she says. “It’s only a matter of time.”

Seasonal, Local, Organic

Sacramento is smack-dab in the center of one of the most agriculturally rich regions in the country. So it’s little wonder that bridal couples want the food at their wedding to be seasonal, local and organic.

Caterers report that today’s brides and grooms aren’t interested in serving asparagus or strawberries out of season—something that was once considered the height of decadence. “‘What’s fresh?’ is the biggest question I’m asked,” says Burke.

“People are more educated about food,” Inouye explains. “We can say ‘farmstead cheese’ and they know what that means.” They also understand that food eaten in season tastes better (and incidentally is less expensive) and that produce grown and consumed locally uses fewer natural resources.

Inouye’s company, Magpie, uses only locally sourced, seasonal, organic produce and hormone-free meats. “People are putting a value on this kind of food,” she says. Magpie sources heirloom tomatoes from Del Rio Botanical in West Sacramento for its Caprese salad and hybrid japonica rice from Lundberg Family Farms for its popular Central Valley black rice salad. “That’s the recipe we get the most requests for,” Inouye says.

La Provence Restaurant & Terrace in Roseville relies on local farmers for many ingredients, says event manager Raquel Mostajo. The restaurant makes risotto with locally grown winter squash, and it uses local mushrooms in the mushroom crêpe and the gnocchi with mushrooms.

Making It Personal

Every bride and groom want their wedding to be unique. One of the best ways to achieve that is by serving foods that are meaningful to the couple and their families.

At La Provence, “we can pull in their culture and family background when we do the hors d’oeuvres,” Mostajo says. If, say, the bride is Indian and the groom Chinese, the restaurant might serve samosas (for her) and pot stickers (for him) during cocktails.
Caterers can also serve foods that make a playful nod to the bride and groom’s life as a couple. Burke, for instance, once served doughnut holes and hot apple cider at the wedding of a pair who’d met at a doughnut shop. “The guests were overwhelmed,” Burke says. “They loved it.”

Burke tells couples to think outside the box when planning their wedding menu. One of her brides was planning to order a traditional wedding cake until she confessed that she hates cake. “Then do something you like,” Burke replied. The bride ended up serving fresh fruit pies at her summer wedding.

Serving It Up

The buffet, “action stations” and family-style dining are replacing the sit-down dinner.
“The buffet is back in full force,” says Burke—a good development, in her opinion. “If handled properly, the food is hot and fresh. And it gives your guests options.” If your Uncle Charlie doesn’t like salmon, no problem: At a buffet, he can load up on pasta and potatoes (and even come back for seconds).

Action stations—where foods are prepared to order—are another increasingly popular option. A caterer might offer a grilling station with skewered shrimp, prosciutto-wrapped scallops and riblets; a pasta station with three types of pasta (ravioli, tortellini and penne) and three sauces (basil cream, marinara and pesto); and a vegetable sauté station. “Guests appreciate the freshness, and it gives them something to watch,” says Burke.

Some bridal couples opt for family-style dining as a compromise between the sit-down dinner and the buffet. Guests are seated while platters of food are passed around the table, family-style. Marci Bridgeford, an event planner with A Joyous Occasion, says this format promotes sharing and communication and creates “a connection between guests.”

But Wacholder, for one, isn’t a fan of family-style service. “I think guests prefer a buffet—especially Grandma. It’s hard if someone hands you a 25-pound platter,” she says.

An Eye on the Bottom Line

We’re in a recession—have you heard? It’s no secret that bridal couples are tightening their belts and keeping a sharp eye on the bottom line.

“People are scaling back,” says Il Fornaio’s Wacholder. In 2007 and 2008, the restaurant catered many elaborate, multi-course weddings. Now, she says, they’re doing more hors d’oeuvres receptions. “Brides are getting very creative with their money.”
Couples are instructing their caterers to use less expensive cuts of meat: Instead of prime rib and jumbo prawns, they’re serving chicken. “They’re going back to basics,” says Bridgeford.

In an effort to hold down costs, couples are increasingly willing to have a breakfast, lunch or brunch reception instead of a dinner. The food costs are lower, and usually less alcohol is consumed. Glassware and china rental costs associated with a daytime event are generally lower as well.

This article appears in the Fall-Winter 2009 issue of Our Wedding

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